Editing Politics of Canada (section)

===Party funding===
The rules governing the funding of parties are designed to ensure reliance on personal contributions. Personal donations to federal parties and campaigns benefit from tax credits, although the amount of tax relief depends on the amount given. Also only people paying income taxes receive any benefit from this.

The rules are based on the belief that union or business funding should not be allowed to have as much impact on federal election funding as these are not contributions from citizens and are not evenly spread out between parties. The new rules stated that a party had to receive 2% of the vote nationwide in order to receive the general federal funding for parties. Each vote garnered a certain dollar amount for a party (approximately $1.75) in future funding. For the initial disbursement, approximations were made based on previous elections. The NDP received more votes than expected (its national share of the vote went up) while the new Conservative Party of Canada received fewer votes than had been estimated and was asked to refund the difference. [[Quebec]] was the first province to implement a similar system of funding many years before the changes to funding of federal parties.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reid |first=Madeline |date=April 2018 |title=Chapter 13 {{!}} Campaign Finance Laws: Controlling the Risks of Corruption and Public Cynicism |url=https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/bitstream/handle/1828/9253/Ch.%2013_April2018_web.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308131918/https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/bitstream/handle/1828/9253/Ch.%2013_April2018_web.pdf |archive-date=March 8, 2022 |access-date=January 22, 2023 |website=University of Victoria}}</ref>

[[Federal political financing in Canada|Federal funds]] are disbursed quarterly to parties, beginning at the start of 2005. For the moment, this disbursement delay leaves the NDP and the Green Party in a better position to fight an election, since they rely more on individual contributors than federal funds. The Green Party now receives federal funds, since it for the first time received a sufficient share of the vote in the 2004 election.<ref name="debates">[http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAN1039064420080910 ''Greens win spot in TV election debates'', Reuters Canada, September 10, 2008] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910233525/http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAN1039064420080910 |date=September 10, 2008 }}, (accessed September 10, 2008)</ref>

In 2007, news emerged of a funding loophole that "could cumulatively exceed the legal limit by more than $60,000", through anonymous recurrent donations of $200 to every riding of a party from corporations or unions. At the time, for each individual, the legal annual donation limit was $1,100 for each party, $1,100 combined total for each party's associations, and in an election year, an additional $1,100 combined total for each party's candidates. All three limits increase on 1 April every year based on the inflation rate.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thetyee.ca/Views/2007/08/13/DemoSale/ |title=Our Democracy for Sale, Still |access-date=August 16, 2007 |last=Conacher |first=Duff |date=August 13, 2007 |work=The Tyee |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017135000/http://thetyee.ca/Views/2007/08/13/DemoSale/ |archive-date=October 17, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=https://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20070802.wdonations02%2FBNStory%2FNational%2Fhome%2Fangle&ord=20544885 |title=Ottawa refuses to close donation loophole |access-date=August 16, 2007 |last=Leblanc |first=Daniel |author2=Jane Taber |date=August 2, 2007 |work=Globe and Mail |location=Canada |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930140829/http://nationalcitizens.ca/cgi-bin/news.cgi?rm=display&articleID=1186055872&search=&category=3&order=&page=1 |archive-date=Sep 30, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070801.wdonationsloophole01/BNStory/National/home |title=Loophole tears lid off political donations |access-date=August 16, 2007 |last=Leblanc |first=Daniel |date=August 1, 2007 |work=Globe and Mail |location=Canada }}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Two of the biggest federal political parties in Canada experienced a drop in donations in 2020, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the global economy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/7244145/coronavirus-political-party-donations/|title=Canadians donated far less to federal political parties in height of coronavirus pandemic|access-date=1 August 2020|website=Global News}}</ref>